The Essentia Blog

In wintry weather, at least in the Northeast, we’re all wondering what to do to make our commute both comfortable and a little greener. Here are a few tips.

When it Snows - Take Transit
Buses and trains do much better in winter weather than your car.  You won’t only be reducing wear and tear on your vehicle by taking mass transit but you’ll probably beat most of your colleagues to work in a blizzard.

If you have to take a less frequent outlying bus route, take a cab or drive your car to the nearest mass transit station to save time. There is usually free parking at these stations and in bad weather outlying routes may be stalled going through suburban neighborhoods. If you can keep up the habit throughout the year, so much the better!

Keep the Idling Down
We like to get into a warm car. Unless you have a diesel vehicle, in which case idling is almost mandatory in the winter for at least 5 minutes, you don’t need to let your car warm up before taking off. It will warm up faster while you are driving than it will in your driveway. You’ll save huge amounts of carbon dioxide simply by putting on some gloves and a hat and bearing the cold for five minutes every morning.

Tire Pressure, Tire Pressure, Tire Pressure
Most eco-guides tell us to check our tire pressure. While this may seem second nature to some, I have to admit that I was confused on how to rightly go about this seemingly intuitive step. Rightly so - did you know that most people don’t know not to inflate their tires to the pressure listed on the tire? That is the maximum pressure that the tire can take and it is not recommended. 

Make sure that you are never running at more than 85% of the maximum listed on the tire.  While you may have the recommended PSI on a sticker on the door of your car, your car may not have factory-issued tires on the car and what it says may not be correct for the tires that are actually on your vehicle right now.

Here’s a great video on how to check your tire pressure and gadgets that you can buy to take the guesswork out of it for you:

Deride China and their goods all you like - they just put a black eye on the entire auto industry by making the first mass production and road-ready electric car.  The move comes from a former battery company that transformed itself into an automaker, BYD.  Their name stands for “Build Your Dreams”.

The cars will be available in the US and Canada only when the company can meet safety standards.  The car will sell for $22,465.00 US, roughly the same price as current mid-range automobiles.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company recently invested in a 9.9% stake in the company.  BYD aims to be the world’s largest car company by 2025 and they are certainly off to a good start.

A solar car has completed a first ever round-the-world trip for a solar car without using any gas.  The trip was designed to end at the UN climate talks on December 4th.  The car chauffered the UN climate official Yvo de Boer to the talks in Poznan, Poland where 190 delegates from all over the world are meeting to discuss climate change.

Louis Palmer, the 36 year old schoolteacher who drove the car, is eager to showcase that the technology is here, it is clean and it is accessible.   Palmer’s trip took 17 months and it took him through 38 countries and 52,000 kilometres.  He only lost two days to breakdowns during the journey and claims that the car runs “like a Swiss clock”.  More on the story can be found at www.solartaxi.com.

Global warming won’t make the wine production of Napa and Sonoma Valleys go sideways if UC Davis has anything to say about it.  The Pacific Ocean has been warming up and cooling down California’s coast before global warming even came into focus as an issue.  Vinters have been adjusting their methods for years based on the unstable California climate.

However, if climate change produces a prolonged drought, there will have to be some major changes in which grapes are used in California wines.  They are exploring certain kinds of grapes at UC Davis that could replace Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays such as Spanish and Argentinian grapes that grow better in warmer climates.  They are also looking at moving to cooler climate areas and participating in water conservation programs.